Insulated rail-joint.



C. H. EWING.

INSULATED RAIL JOINT. APPLIGATIONPILBD APR.14, 19u

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Patented Dec. 19, 1911.

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C. H. EWING.

' INSULATBD RAIL JOINT.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 14, 191,1.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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PATENT oEEicE.

CHARLES H. EWING,l 0F HADDON HEIGTAS, NEW JERSEY.

' INSULATED MIL-JOINT.

My present invention consists in novely provis-ions for connecting and at the same time electrically insulating the adjacent ends of alined railway track rails, and hasfor its main object to provide 'a strong but simple construction for the purpose specified and oiiewhich will be durable in operation and comparatively inexpensive .to manu'- facture and maintain.

The various features of novelty which'- characterize my invent-ion are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification. For a better understanding ot' the invention, however, and the advantagespossessed by it., reference may be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which I have illustrated and described sev-V eral of the forms in which the inventio may be embodied.

Of t-lie drawings, Figure l is a side elevat-ion of an assembled rail joint.' Fig. 2 is a section taken on the 'line 2 2 of Figjl, Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one forni o base plate which I employ. Fig. 4: is a section taker? similarly to Fig. 2, but showing a modified construction, and, Fig. 5 is a partial section taken similarly to Figs. 2 and 4 and showing a third construction. In the drawings, A, represents the base plate member, which comprises a bottom wall portion A, side flanges A2, which may be cut away at the ends A3. In Figs. l and 3*.the bottom wall A of the base plate member is provided with a central longi* tudinal raised portion A4 at one endwhich serves as a seat for one of the rail ends to be connected together. The bottom wall portion is provided also at its other end wit-h another raised portion' A, which, however, does Vnot extend up from the bottom wall proper as high as does the portion At. In the preferred construlction illustrated, each of the raised portions A4 and A5 is formed integral with the base plate member proper by pressing up the body of the bot-tom wall specification 'of Letter-s rateat.

Patented Dec. 19, 1911 `.ippiioaiioasied Apri114, 1911. serial no. 620,926..

of the member. `I make the base plate inember of wrought steel which may be givenv its shape entirely by rolling in suitable apparatus or partly by rolling and partlyby forging or pressing. rlhe space between the raised portions A4 and A5 of the base plate member serves asa pocket to receive a block of insulating material B on which the second rail end is seated. In practice, I prefer that the block B of insulated material should extend beyond the end of the rail seated upon it for a slight distance under the end o t the opposite rail and where the invention is used on double track railways,

- or' wherever the conditions are such that the trathc is mainly or entirely in one direction along any particular pair of rails, I arrange the rail Joint so that t-he rail X, supported by the-insulating block is the leaving rail,

while the rail Y, bearing direct-ly on the raised metallic portion A4, is the receiving rail.

The two rails X and Y are coiniectedto each` other and the base plate member through fish plate'ineinbers C provided with bot-tom wall of the bed plate and are secured thereto in the construction shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3,by means of bolts D passing through suitable apertures A7 in the base plate and registering apertures in the -outturiied flanges C wihich rest upon the flanges C.. n Interposed between the sh pla-te member and the rails X and Y pro )er are suitable heavy bodies E of insulating material. The rails X and Y, blocks of insulating material E and fish plates C are connected by suitable .transverse bolts F, and these bolts are insulated from the fish plates C by the bushings G and washers H. The adjacentends of the rails X and Y are insulated by interposed posts or plate like pieces of insulating material Z conforming .iii sha-pe to the cross sections ot1 the rails.

The insulated 'parts employed may be of any suitable material, for instance, the block B, as well as the blocks E may advantageously be made of wood, while the posts Z and bushings G and washers H may well be It will be ob distances. Apertures A6 are formed in theV base plate member and apertures registering therewith are formed inthe base lianges of the fish plate members C to receive the spikes by which the joints are secured to the track ties. in and removing these spikes as well as to e ect a sli ht economy in the weight of material employed that the side llanges may be cut away at A.

Instead of securingthe fish plate'members to the base plate member by bolts, as in the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2, I consider it advantageous in many cases, to

form these memberswith interlocking sur-v faces which make bolts corresponding to the bolts unnecessar In the preferred construction illustrate in Fi 4f, the base memberA A differs from the4 ase plate member A in that the side flan es A are inturned to provide lateral channe s A11 opening toward j ,so proportioned that t eA ribs C3 may be inbase s'ertedV or removedgfrom the channels when the bolts F are removed by rocking the fish plate members as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 4 and moving them laterally without the `necessity for any relative longitudinal movement between the tish x plate members and the base plate member..

,In -the construction shown in Fig. 5 the plate member yA' B is essentially the same 1n form as the base plate member A A ofFig. 4 except that as shown the extensions A94 are omitted. In this form the fish plate members C B vare similar to the fish plate members C. In this construction the iish plate members C are ordinarily .inserted and removed by j sliding' them longitudinally with respect'to theI base plate.. Registering spike apertures A, A and Care formed in the upper and lower walls ofthe channels A1? and in the flanges C.

' The claims herein made are limited either to constructions inwhich4 the base plate member is rovided with projections which vrestrain en Wise movements of the rail supporting insulation block or which provide a metallic seat for' one of theconnecting rails, or arelimited on the provisions illustrated in Figs. l and 5 of overlapping flanges on the base plate an' fish plate members. Other important and.novel 'characteristic features of ,the .constructions disclosed herein are claimed .in my copending application, lSerial No. 637,449, filed July 8, 1911, which while It is for convenience in insert While in accordance with the rovisionsA ofthe statutes I have illustrate and described the best form of my invention now known to me, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes may be made in the form of the apparatus disclosed with out departing from the spirit of my invention, and that certain features of the invention may sometimes be used with advantage without a corresponding use of other features.

Having now described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

i l. An insulated rail joint construction comprising in combination a metal base plate formed with uprising side flanges havf ing its bottom Wall provided with a longitu` dinal raised portion adjacent one end thereof, 'whereby one of a pair of rail ends to be coupled together may be seated. on said raised portion while the other alined rail end is supported on a block of insulation mounted on the bottom Wall at one end of said raised portion, metal fish plate mem- 9 bers formed with iianges seating on the bottom wall of said base plate between said side flanges, and means for securing said base plate and fish plate members together.

2. An insulated rail joint construction comprising in combination a metal base plate formed with uprising side flanges and having its bottom wall provided with a central longitudinal raised portion adjacent one end thereof, whereby one of a pair of rail ends to be coupled together may, be seated on said raised port-ion, a block ot insulation mounted on said bottom at one end of said raised portion and on which the other alined rail end is supported, metal fish plate members formed with flanges seating on the bottom wall of said base plate between said side flanges, means for securing said base plate and vfish late members together, blocks of insulation interposed between said fish plate members and said rails, and means for securing said last mentioned blocks and the rails and fish plate members 'ing above the bottom wall proper of the' base plate, and provisions for securin an insulated blook on the base plate ac jacent it:J opposite end whereby one of a pair of rail ends to be coupled together may be seated l members provided with outt-urned flanges at on said `metal portion and the other on said to be inserted in and removed from said block of insulating material and fish plate their lower edges leach adapted toenter the channel inthe corresponding side flange.l

4. A base plate, for an insulated rail joint,

in the form of a wrought steel structure having uprising side flanges and h aving its botl 'tom wall provided with a raised portion between said iianges adjacent one end of the plate and adapted to form a seat for one of.

a pair of rail ends to be coupled tgether and provided with lanother raised portion adjacent its opposite end but of smaller height than the first mentioned raised portion, whereby a block' of insulation adaptedl to form a seat for the other rail end may be held between said raised portions.

5. A base plate for an insulated rail joint, in the form of awrought steel structure having uprising side flanges and having its bottom wall provided with a raised portion between said flanges adjacent one end of the plate adapted to form a seat for one of'a pair oit' rail ends to be coupled .together andl providedy with anotherv raised portion adjacent its oppositeend but of smaller height than the irst mentioned raised portion .whereby a block of insulation adapted to form a seat for the other rail end may-be held between said raised portions, said flanges being inturned to provide channels adapted to receive outturned bottom flanges provided on metallic fish plate members.

. 6. A base plate for an insulated rail joint, in the form of a wrought steel structure having uprising side` flanges and having .its bottom wall provided between said flanges and adjacent one end of the plate with an integral raised portion radaptedto form va seat for one of a pair of rail ends to be coupled together and provided also with another integral raised portion adjacent its opposite end but of smaller height'than the first mentioned raised portion whereby a block of insulation adapted to vform a seat `for the other rail end may be held between not vertically movable therein and adapted Copies of this lpatent may be obtained for ymovable therein, arail supporting block of insulation'mounted on the bottom wall of said'base plate between said fish plate members, blocks of insulation interposed between the fish plates and the connectedv rails above the base fianges of the latter and means for securing said fish plates, rails and last mentioned-` insulation blocks together.

9. An insulated rail joint construction comprising in combination a metal base plate formed with uprising side flanges, metal fish plate members formed with flanges seating on the bottom wall of said base member between said side flanges, a rail supporting block vot insulation mounted on the bottom wall of Asaid base plate memberbetween said fish plateV members and means for securing said base plate and fish platem'embers together, said base member being provided with projections on its bottom wall at the ends of said block restraining endwise displacement of the latter.

l0. An insulated rail joint construction comprising in combination a metal base plate Aformed with uprising side flanges, metal fish plate members formed with flanges seating on the bottom wall of said base member be-l tween saidl sidetlanges, a rail supporting block of insulation mounted'on the bottom wall of said base plate member between said fish plate members and means for securing said base plate and fish plate lmembers'together, said base member being providedwith projections on itsbot-tom `wall at 'the ends of said block, restraining endwise displacement of the latter, one of said projections being of. a height substantially equalY to the thickness of said block and being elongated to provide a metallic seat for one of the rail'ends coupled together.

CHARLES H. 'Ewmot VVitnesses:v

ARNOLD Ka'rz, D. STEWART.

ve' cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C. 

